Evander McIver Law (August 7, 1836 – October 31, 1920) was an author, teacher, and a Confederate general in the American Civil War.

His grandfather and his two great-grandfathers had fought in the American Revolutionary War under Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" guerrilla leader.

In April 1861 he transferred to the Confederate States Army as a captain in the 4th Alabama Infantry, a unit he helped recruit from students at his high school.

He was promoted to colonel on October 28, 1861, and assumed command of what would become known as the "Alabama Brigade"[3] under Maj. Gen. James Longstreet in the Army of Northern Virginia in May 1862.

[4] In the Maryland Campaign, at the Battle of Antietam, Law's Brigade defended against the Union attack through the Cornfield at high cost—454 killed and wounded.

At the Battle of Gettysburg, Law's brigade fought in the unsuccessful assault on the Union left on July 2, 1863, on Little Round Top and the Devil's Den.

[6] On July 3, Law's men were at the extreme right of the Confederate line and defended against a suicidal cavalry attack made by Union troops of Brig.

[8] After Gettysburg, Longstreet's Corps was transported to the Western Theater to join General Braxton Bragg and the Army of Tennessee for victory at the Battle of Chickamauga.

On September 20, Hood's division, under Law, struck a gap in the Federal line and captured at least fifteen pieces of enemy artillery.

By late October 1863, Law's brigade was detached from Hood's division and the army, guarding Brown's Ferry over the Tennessee River in what is known as Lookout Valley.

While Law was on leave, visiting the wounded Hood, division commander Jenkins stripped the defenses at Brown Ferry of over half the units, despite intelligence of enemy activity and pleas for reinforcements from Col. William C. Oates, commanding the 15th Alabama Regiment, one of the two regiments still posted near Brown's Ferry.

A few days later, Federal reinforcements— the XI and XII Corps from the Army of the Potomac— arrived at the other end of Lookout Valley, at Wauhatchie Station.

[10] Confederate Gen. Bragg recognized that the "cracker line" would spell the end of the siege of Chattanooga, and on October 28, ordered Longstreet to take his corps and seize control of Lookout Valley.

Gen. Jenkins quickly planned a night attack on the railhead at Wauhatchie, to be made by two brigades, his own under Col. John Bratton, and Brig.

[13] In the Overland Campaign, on May 6, 1864, at the Wilderness, Law was under arrest in the rear, while his brigade participated in Longstreet's morning counterattack along the Orange Plank Road.

The brigade continued to Spotsylvania Court House, but Law did not resume command until the Battle of Cold Harbor, where he received a gunshot wound that fractured his skull and injured his left eye.

[1] After the war, Law administered the extensive agricultural holdings and railroad interests in his father-in-law's estate; he had married Jane Elizabeth Latta on March 9, 1863.